ERP Selection is a vital process a company must go through to acquire modern information technology that will drive business process improvement. Under Ultra’s guidance, over 300 manufacturing and distribution companies have successfully completed their ERP Selection projects.
The Benefits of an Independent Consultant
Selecting and implementing a new ERP system is one of the most resource-intensive projects a mid-market manufacturing company can face. We’re here to make it easier and more rewarding for you.
Your company can gain value from teaming with an independent expert like Ultra for an effective approach to enterprise software selection. When guided by the right consulting team, you will be able to reduce the effort, resources and cost of ERP selection.
A properly executed ERP Selection process is a key component to a successful ERP implementation. Implementations that fail to meet expectations can almost always be traced back to a poorly executed ERP Selection project.
An Integrated Methodology Approach
Ultra Consultants employs a business process evaluation methodology to assess the top ERP vendors in the market today. Our ERP Selection services are integrated with all of our other service offerings:
- Business Process Improvement
- Enterprise Software Implementation
- Business Process Transformation
- Organizational Change Management
- Enterprise Project Management
The integration of all of these services makes our client teams more efficient, reducing overall time-to-benefit.
Defining your company’s business processes, both current state and future state will drive your client evaluation projects. We help our clients identify the vendors that meet the required selection criteria and excel in these business processes within our client’s industry.
Evaluation Criteria
The following are critical ERP selection criteria:
- Software functional fit to the future state business process needs
- Vendor’s presence and strength in our client’s industry
- Vendor’s technology direction
- Vendor’s support ecosystem
- Total cost of ownership
Our process will guide you to a vendor that best fits your business process needs, and who will be a good partner for the next twenty years. With all of the options out there today, this is a challenge in itself. We will guide you through the process of navigating the vendor evaluation process.
The ERP Selection Process
Each of our projects follow our well-defined methodology, which includes the following steps:
- Identifying the vendors
- A vendor interview process
- Developing evaluation drivers
- Creating a decision criteria table
- Designing process-driven demonstration scripts
- A vendor product presentation and evaluation process
- Identifying vendor implementation capabilities
- Determining vendor price
- ERP contract negotiations
Our methodology will make sure the entire selection process is more efficient, thereby shortening the project duration. With our help, your team will become more efficient, and the ERP vendor will become more efficient. This process builds a foundation of information, education, and documentation that will increase the client’s project success.
Next Steps for Your ERP Selection
For a closer look at effective ERP selection, download an informative white paper entitled “7 Steps to Effectively Organize an ERP Project.” This paper shares seven tried-and-true strategies for manufacturers to effectively manage an ERP selection project.
The initial series of steps range from thoroughly analyzing expected ROI, to setting and communicating the priority of the project within the organization.
Additional steps pertain to selecting the team, educating all team members in ERP best practices and system knowledge, as well as issuing a project charter.